Hainanese Curry Rice - The One with a Long Queue @ Beo Crescent [Near Tiong Bahru MRT Station]

Purpose: To bring Kon-Van for Bak Kut Teh at Ya Hua

Outcome: Ya Hua was closed!!! 

Since we were clueless on what to have (there were just too many places we could think of to have our lunch; Tiong Bahru market, our favourite char kway teow etc), the decision was abruptly made to drive into an unexplored area; Beo Crescent. 

It was not long before Kon's eyes caught sight of the long queue from this particular stall in a coffee shop! Knowing it was one of his favourite Hainanese Curry Rice; he immediately queued up and told us we would just 'try' it out. 

His definition of "try" was to order the above for each of us; the plate was practically overflowing with curry rice, fried egg, deep fried pork, curry cabbage and braised pork!!!! *shakes head* 

To add on to my 'misery', he could not help not ordering three extra side dishes! Mind you, i had just recovered from a 4-day fever!!! 

Now coming to my take on this popular curry rice. 

The curry gravy was light, not that spicy and most importantly, not overly heavy on the stomach. I enjoyed the crispy pork thingies (put it this way, i am all gear for deep fried stuff) and am generally neutral towards all the others. Kon-Van, the veterans of Hainanese curry rice, was however incredibly satisfied with everything and especially loved the braised pork. 

Listen to the healthy veterans. 

Side dishes wise, they performed better beyond my expectation, with the exception of the brinjal. That two portions of minced pork patties took the cake; juicy, moist and tasted exceptionally delicious! 

Van put it in a most fitting way; a very good pork bun [肉包] without the bun.  

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Location

Block 40, Beo Crescent.

[Look out for the above signboard 河濱園 and the queue]

Map

As above

[Near Tiong Bahru MRT Station]

Price

Kon paid S$23.80 for everything which seemed pretty reasonable given there were so much food!!! 

Big Portrait Tomb @ Bukit Brown Cemetery

Driving aimlessly may not be such a bad idea, especially if you happen to drive into Southeast Asia's largest Chinese cemetery; Bukit Brown.

The grave caught my attention because of various reasons; the area it encompasses and especially the two life-sized stone benches that would be better placed in a Roman-themed garden.

What's more interesting were the large portraits beside each headstone! This is unconventional even in the current era when photographs of the deceased are no bigger than one's palm! 

It houses a husband and a wife; Mr Tok Cheng Tuan and Mdm Oon Tuan Cheng. From the look of Mdm Oon's portrait, my bet is that she was a Peranakan.

Typical of Peranakans who were likely English educated in the colonial period, there were writings in English. Nothing much; just the usual name, date of their death and age. 

More information can be found online; you may check out the post here by a librarian who seems to have access to a lot more data than myself. 

The markers flanking the tomb can only mean one thing; its end is near as it has been identified as one of over 3,000 tombs that the government is clearing in order to build a new road across the century-old cemetery.

Time to plan another aimless drive again. 

Good Spice Carrot Cake [好味萝卜糕] @ Pek Kio Food Centre

I have been missing black carrot cake deeply since one of my favourite stalls located in Yishun closed shop a couple of months ago! :(

Honestly, i have not been actively seeking out new vendor but the sight of a long queue and the sweet aroma of freshly fried carrot cake were too irresistible! I did what Singaporeans always do when it comes to supposedly good hawker food; join the queue.

The wait was twenty minutes and unlike the usual me, i ordered without any special instruction as i wanted to savour the original taste. 

More savoury without the sweetness commonly associated with black carrot cake; it seemed that the owner has replaced the dark sauce with soy sauce! Unique but definitely not the type i preferred although i have to mention that the stall was really generous with the eggs!

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Location

Blk 41A, Cambridge Road,

Pek Kio Food Centre

Map

As Above [Red Star]

Price

Even though the minimum was S$1.50 a plate, the order taker assumed i was asking for S$2.50 for reasons unknown. Nope, I didn't appear to be exceptionally hungry that day. 

Transformers The Ride: The Ultimate 4D Battle @ Sci-Fi City Zone [Universal Studios Singapore (USS)]

I am back at USS again! 

All the feedback received for the transformers ride at Universal Studios Singapore have been incredibly positive with some even going as far as saying it was way better than the world’s tallest duelling roller coasters!

That was the reason why we decided to brave the long waiting time that had remained constantly above 120 minutes! The above picture was taken at 6pm at the ride's entrance; so you can imagine its popularity!! 

Display items like the above can only help temporarily to kill the boredom of waiting but if you are unlucky to have impatient people behind you in the queue, those items would be practically useless.

Unexpectedly, the queue was consistently moving and once you reached the second level, you are more or less half way through. As you can see, many people continued to join the queue even though there was only 30 minutes left to closing. 

Second level was more happening and transformers' fans would be very happy with the visual treats! 

I am not a big fan although i do remember that it was a slab of ancient writings on rocks used in one of the transformers movies. 

This, i can recognise. Allspark; the beautiful artifact that has the power of being the lifeforce of transformers. And this is where the story begins. This ride focused on the battle between the autobots and decepticons for the precious allspark. 

Take your 3D glasses to enjoy the ride! 

I timed the wait; 60 minutes long which was halved the 120 minutes indicated on the waiting panel outside the attraction. I doubt i can stomach a wait of more than two hours! 

No picture on the ride itself. All i can say is that i totally enjoyed the 4D ride!! It was damn thrilling and the satisfaction was top notched! The best i can describe it is that it is a hybrid of the 4D Shrek Show and the Mommy's ride! 

Not sure if you can survive the ride?

Go through the checklist.

No 3 Crab Delicacy Seafood Restaurant [3号螃蟹美味海鲜餐馆] @ 265/267 Outram Road

I would commonly research a bit on the restaurants before i publish my review of them on this blog you are reading right now; usually, it is to confirm that signature dishes have been ordered and to get some information on their history.

There were surprises of course - some came with such fantastic reviews; i wonder if there is something inherently wrong with my taste buds [more often than not, the reviews were posted a number of years ago]. 

In the case of "No 3 Crab", i was taken aback by the online declaration that it was "voted as one of the top restaurant by the Singapore Straits Times newspaper and also one of the top write up restaurant in Singapore and Hong Kong."

Embarrassing news for crab lovers like me who has never heard about this restaurant. Oh well, as the saying goes, the older you get, the more food you would have eaten.

Sliced Bittergourd

I could not understand why humans can like such a bad tasting vegetable but you have to try these freshly sliced bittergourd! With the accompanied sweet sauce that is. Without the sweet component, a bittergourd is only as 'good' as it sounds. Bitter.

Coffee Pork Ribs

To be frank, i did enjoy savouring the savoury black sauce surrounding the ribs (which were too tough) together with the generous sprinkling of sesame seeds. However, as my compatriots have mentioned, there was absolutely no taste of coffee.

Steam Crab with Egg White

My take on steamed crabs is well known; it is simply too easy to cook and does not justify the high pricing listed on the restaurants' menu! 

Furthermore, the quality of crabs is probably the only factor in determining how you enjoy the dish. Not that quality doesn't matter in other cooking styles (chilli, black pepper etc); it does but not on the same scale as steamed crabs. 

Salted Egg Crab

This was not a disappointment; a good showing of salted egg completed with strong infusion of curry leaves that gave salted egg crabs a uniqueness adored by many. Not as sweet as i prefer though.

Buns for the salted egg sauce; average and definitely not of the same caliber as those from forture seafood. 

Yam Paste

Our dessert for the day was normal and could have performed better with the addition of pumpkin meat. 

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I wasn't very impressed with what i have even though you might wish to note that their crab specialties are curry crab and crab porridge. The fact that the restaurant was less than half filled on a Thursday evening could also imply a lot of things.

Location

265/267 Outram Road

[Behind Wangz Hotel]

Map

As above[red star]

Website

http://www.3crab.com

Price

Crab - S$45 a kilogram

Coffee Pork Ribs - S$16 [M]

Yam Paste - S$16 [M]

[Subject to GST and Service Charge]

The Special Mr Herbal Tea [凉茶先生] Who Provided An Extra "Service" @ Beo Crescent [Havelock Road]

The initial plan was to post something related to the dead but it doesn't seem appropriate when it is the day of celebration for our Christian friends today!

I shall therefore postpone that to another day and talk about this interesting Chinese herbal tea stall located in a part of Singapore that was surprisingly unbeknownst to me.

While queuing for our turn to buy herbal tea, we overheard the conversation between the first customer and the owner, which sounded almost like a diagnosis session between a patient and a doctor! Except it was over the counter.

My turn came and the first sentence that shot out of my mouth was "i have just recovered from fever that has persisted for four days and my throat is now feeling very dry!". Mr Herbal Tea shortly recommended a thick herbal concoction (it was bitter!!) and a 2-min massage! 

You heard me right; a massage that came with no additional cost!

Mr Herbal Tea's father used to operate a Chinese medicinal hall and was well-versed in traditional Chinese medicine [TCM]. After lightly massaging my eyebrows, he said my liver was very heaty and advised i should stay off chicken for the next few days and sleep before midnight everyday.

His care and dedication to customers were amazing! Although i stay in Yishun, i would likely pop by the stall to buy a few bottles of herbal tea whenever i am in the vicinity! 

By the way, my throat did get better after the tea+massage session! 

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Location

Block 38, Beo Crescent

[Opp the Hawker Centre]

Map

As above [Red Star]

Price

Special Concoction Herbal Tea - S$3.50